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We're back at the Barn for an evening of championship deciders. Starting with a mega-brief 5-minute AGM, we'll decide the Nascar title in 'normal time'. It is looking close at the top, with Pete in pole-position...

   

The result of the Nascar race will also have an impact on the extra race at the end of the evening - the Gen6 Cup Championship Showdown. That's a 2-minute race between the top 4 Gen6 racers, decided on race wins and then points. This is how the grid looks at the moment...

   

However, there are rumours that Deborah and Keith might not make it.

   

All the racing takes place on a layout inspired by the Watkins Glen short course, including the 'inner loop' created with two AFX chicane sets.

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Race Report - Qualifying Heats

Nineteen of us rocked up to the Barn for our 2024 WHO Nascar championship decider. The Watkins Glen inspired circuit went together nicely and looked to give us a perfect platform for the evening's racing - a quick lap...

   

... punctuated by the bus stop chicane at the end of the longest straight...

   

In readiness for next season, Oliver and Andy ran an almost-stock Bulldog BDR Nascar in practice, lapping just a tenth or two behind a pair of front-running Super-G+ cars and - most importantly - staying ahead of them. Not bad for a road course. The faster Mega-G+ cars were also lapping well - so we were fully expecting to see Gen6 cars up in the C and B Final mix.

A traditional 5-minute WHO AGM looked back at the past year, forward to 2025 and thanked everyone who ensures the club ticks over so well.

   

The heats began with championship rivals Andy and Pete setting the pace at the top, with John and Ollie not far behind. Rookie Ryan had borrowed Andy's Mega-G+ and was the best of the Gen6 runners at half way - and there was an outside chance he could make the 4-car championship showdown, although he still had a lot to do. This is how the leaderboard looked after everyone had completed two heats...

   

The pace increased through the second round of heats, none more so than Heat 12, which saw Ollie, Pete and Andy in action. Those two minutes were insanely quick, Pete dropping a fast lap of 3.383 seconds (one of 3 sub-3.5 second laps) - nearly half a second faster than Andy's best. The gap on the road at the end was just 0.35 of a lap - Pete having a couple of offs, but still winning the heat. That wrapped up pole for Pete, Andy finishing with a great white lane score and Pete's car struggling in yellow - the difference between their best 3 heats being 0.15 of a lap. You couldn't ask for more from the championship contenders!

   

Ollie was top junior and eased into the third and final automatic spot in the A Final, just ahead of John, Oliver and Terry. Then came the first of the Gen6 runners - Ryan had beaten Kev by two laps, Ash a further four behind. Ryan still had to beat Kev in the C Final to grab a place in the championship decider. There would certainly be more drama to follow in the six finals...

   
Click on the image to make it bigger

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Race Report - Finals part 1

Nineteen racers gave us six full grids for the finals, starting with the F Final...

   

Frankie lined up in red lane, Nathan in blue, Steve in white and Gary the only Super-G+ runner in yellow...

   

The junior racer was fastest round the first lap, Nathan having an off and dropping to the back. Gary, pushing hard to stay in touch, crashed on lap four, which left Frankie out front and Steve a distant second...

   

Not only was Frankie the fastest car on track, he was also staying on. The others all had a few excursions into the scenery, but the leader ran faultlessly from start to finish...

   

In a relatively high-scoring race for the bottom final, Frankie won by three laps, Gary was second, Nathan third and Steve fourth.

That meant Frankie stepped up into white lane for the E Final...

   

He'd face Tracy in blue lane, Mike in yellow and Kevin in red. Mike was the only Super-G+ runner...

   

Frankie was again the first car round and led Kevin in the early stages after both Tracy and Mike had scrappy laps to start the race. Kevin's challenge faltered with offs on laps 6 and 8, but the gap to the leader was already considerable. Tracy moved up to second, despite also going off on lap 6 - but Mike was severely delayed with a dislodged rear axle, losing six laps to the leader...

   

It was another perfect run to the line for Frankie, his score of 24.25 eclipsing anything he managed in the heats and up there with the best Gen6 runners. Tracy was best of the rest, beating Kevin by a lap and a half. Mike came in fourth, banging in some quick laps after his mechanical issues.

Next up for Frankie was a return to red lane for the D Final...

   

This one was split between two Super-G+ cars of Rob (yellow) and Isaac (blue), plus two Mega-G+ Gen6 runners of Ash (white) and Frankie...

   

Although featuring the club car bodies, it turned out Pete was giving Frankie a run of one of his old Mega-G+ chassis. Again, the youngster was quick off the line, but Rob was quicker. These two were neck-and-neck in the early stages, Rob leading the first three laps before Frankie slipped past. A small lead became bigger when Rob had a very brief off on lap six...

   

Isaac dropped out of contention with a string of crashes, leaving the others in a close battle for the win. Ash remained in that hunt, showing good pace and perfect consistency. Frankie had an off on lap 11, managing to hold on to the lead, but having both Ash and Rob very close behind. This was turning out to be the best race so far...

   


Ash's challenge faltered after three crashes in the closing stages. Rob kept Frankie's car firmly in his sights, the two trading fast times as the clock counted down. One last push for victory saw Rob overstretch and spin off on the penultimate lap. Frankie brought his Mega-G+ home just three quarters of a lap ahead. Ash was third and Isaac a distant fourth.

After nailing red lane - with the biggest Gen6 score of the night so far - Frankie was back in white for the C Final and a crack at the Gen6 win...

   

The top two Mega-G+ runners were already in this race - Ryan (Frankie's dad) in blue and Kev in red. Matthew had a very rapid Super-G+ in yellow lane...

   

Amazingly, Frankie beat Matthew round to lead the first lap, but then the Super-G+ cruised through to the lead the second. Matthew seemed to have the race in the bag as all three Mega-G+ runner over-cooked their efforts and had offs in the early stages...

   

Then Matthew had a big one, losing five laps with a popped axle. Frankie was now in the lead, followed by his dad and then Kev. With Matthew's woes, one of these three would win the final and Gen6 honours - if that was Ryan or Frankie, they would join Kev in the Gen6 championship shoot-out. The pressure was on - and errors were creeping into all three Mega-G+ runners' races...

   

Disaster struck for the leader on lap 14 - the body of his car coming off in a crash. Rob did a great job to swiftly replace it, but the youngster had dropped to third place. The race continued to be scrappy, but that was because the pace was incredibly high. Going into the final laps, Ryan looked to have comfortably wrapped up a famous win - only to bin his car on successive laps. He held on to complete the final two laps without incident and bring to a close a breathtaking two minutes...

   

The result meant Ryan automatically qualified for the Gen6 shoot-out at the end of the evening. It also saw the end of a remarkable set of finals for Frankie - three wins and three step-ups followed by a stroke of bad luck.

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Race Report - Finals part 2

In addition to all the Gen6 implications, Ryan also stepped up into the B Final...

   

John had chosen red lane, Oliver yellow, Terry blue and Ryan was left with white...

   

Terry crashed on the first lap, which was led by Oliver, ahead of John and Ryan. John crashed on lap 3, giving Oliver a decent cushion early in race - Ryan keeping his Mega-G+ on the track but dropping half a second a lap...

   

Oliver kept his head down as those behind had more offs - the two big ones being Ryan's on lap 7 and John's on lap 11. Oliver's pace was very consistently around the 4.1 second mark, slower than John and Terry, but they had a lot of ground to make up...

   

Both pushed really hard, dropping Ryan when he had a second crash, but not making much headway on the leader. John got the closest, before a late off left his car stranded. A fine run by Oliver gave him a win by three and a half laps, John finishing a lap ahead of Terry and Ryan a lap further back.

That left us with our first championship decider of the night. Quite simply, Andy needed to win the A Final to claim the championship, whereas Pete could finish one place behind Andy if someone else was to the race win.

   

Pole-sitter Pete had chosen blue lane, Andy had controversially gone for white, Ollie was in yellow and Oliver red...

   

Throughout the heats, Pete had the fastest car, but it did slow in the latter stages - was that by design or because of an over-heating armature? Andy had a chance if he could stay close - Pete had been a bit crashy in the heats, Andy had not crashed once. Off the line, Pete set a blistering pace, leading Andy by a second after just one lap. A string of sub-3.75 second laps followed - Pete taking three tenths out of Andy each time and putting him half a lap ahead after just five laps...

   

Pete's pace eased off slightly, enough for Andy to hold the gap stable. Then, on lap 15, the chaser made his first error of the evening, coming off exiting the bus stop. In the blink of an eye, Pete had lapped him. Behind, Oliver and Ollie were having a complete crash-fest - which made the focus and pace at the front even more remarkable. Having recovered quickly from his off, Andy continued to match Pete's lap times - the gap stable at a lap and a half. Pete was not home and dry - that lead could evaporate with even a minor crash. And the pace was not coming down - Pete clocking 3.726 against Andy's 3.699 in the final stages...

   

The chequered flag saw Pete set the first 30-lapper of the night - a 30.60 - and Andy's 29.15 was a fraction behind his best from the heats. It was a race worthy of a championship battle.

   

Huge congratulations to Pete on his race and championship win. Congrats also to Ollie on a magnificent third place overall, plus the junior medal. Ryan had another race to think about, but already finished top rookie and top Gen6 runner.

Here are all the stats from the finals...

   

Of course, we still had one more race to go - the Gen6 Cup championship shoot-out.

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Race Report - Gen6 Championship Shoot-out

We emulate the Nascar play-offs for our Mega-G+ Gen6 Cup - a four-way, winner-takes-all final race of the Nascar season. Automatic qualification comes from a regular season Gen6 win, with any gaps in the line-up determined by season points and the tie-break is the most top-4 or top-8 finishes. So this is how it looked after Wednesday's finals, with two-time winner Deborah not at the races...

   

And this is how the cars looked on the grid...

   

Kev chose yellow lane, Ryan chose red, Nathan blue and Ash happy with white...

   

After the earlier heats and finals, Ryan certainly had the edge, although Kev has the experience. Nathan and Ash were ready to pick up the pieces...

   


The two minute race requires cool heads as the championship can be thrown away at the first corner. The start was clean, but the mix of nerves and adrenaline started working its mayhem on lap two - Ryan crashing, followed by Nathan and Ash the next time round (and the next... and the next!). Kev had nearly a lap to defend - and we were less than a quarter of the way into the race.

After than early off, Ryan knuckled down for the chase. Kev's pace was a metronomic 4.5 seconds a lap. Ryan was less consistent - sometimes quicker, sometimes slower. Just after half distance, Ryan was off twice in three laps - and Kev crashed too. The outcome, another lap and a half added to Kev's lead...

   

Ryan needed a miracle to complete his smash & grab on the championship, but Kev wasn't going to give anything away. Kev just eased off by a couple of tenths a lap to manage the lead and avoid any disasters. It was Ryan who crashed again, the winning margin edging out to exactly three laps. Given the stakes, Kev's championship winning 24.75 laps was a magnificent score...

   

That meant Kev joined Pete and Ollie in the 2024 Nascar champions picture...

   

Here is the full points table...

   

Wednesday's results also confirmed three more 2024 champions...

Firstly, Pete is now uncatchable for the WHO Club Championship - congratulations on a first club title!

   

The junior title is too close to call. Either Isaac or Ollie could clinch it at the final race of the year. And Frankie could beat Dylan to third.

The other two titles confirmed are...

   

Nathan is our 2024 WHO Rookie of the Year and Ethan our 2024 Junior Rookie. Congratulations to both!

Nathan is also one of six racers with 100% attendance at our HO nights this year.

That's the end of our busiest night of the year. A very big thank you to everyone who came along - especially to the set-up and race control crews and everyone who stayed behind to pack away.

Don't forget we have a test & fun night in two weeks - on Wednesday 20 November. The plan is for a small-ish test track and a drag strip or two. I need to make sure the drag stuff has survived the house move last year...